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It’s been a week since Apple released Lion and Safari 5.1. In that time we’ve released a bunch of updates that bring better compatibility and restore your favorite features. We’ve also received a ton of great feedback from you on our new extension and previewed a major redesign we hope to release real soon.

Today we’re back with a pair of huge updates—1Password 3.7 beta and Safari extension 3.7 beta—sporting some great features you’ve been asking for:

Universal Unlock: Now when you unlock the 1Password app, the new Safari extension will follow suit

Copy to Clipboard from the extension: Opening the 1Password app just to copy a password for a Flash site? Old ‘n busted. In the new extension you can now find a Login, click the right arrow (or hit your right arrow key) to view its details, and click the new “Copy” button next to your password for easier pasting

Go & Fill/All Logins typing focus works again: After using Command-Option-\ to invoke Go & Fill, keyboard focus will be placed in the search field to keep you going and filling as quickly as possible

Much-improved AutoSubmit: Go to System Preferences > Universal Access > Enable Access for Assistive Devices, and 1Password will perform much better at automatically logging you in

Lock 1Password from the command line: For the power users in the audience, you can now lock 1Password from the command line with: “open x-onepassword-agent://lock”

It’s important to note that, while a bonus of our new official extension format is that Safari can now automatically upgrade it without us needing to update the 1Password app, this is one of the few cases where you will need to update both to enjoy these benefits. Since they are beta releases, you will also need to opt into our beta track if you want to help us polish them up for prime time.

If you need help upgrading either 1Password or the new extension, see this document. If you’ve never participated in our beta, please check out this document for how to do so an explanation of what it’s all about.

If you try both the 1Password and extension betas, please follow a couple of short steps once the update processes finish:

Go to System Preferences > Universal Access, and click Enable Access For Assistive Devices at the bottom of the window

It’s been just four days since Apple unleashed Safari 5.1 and 10.7 Lion, a massive upgrade to nearly every aspect of your Mac. Back in June, we released a pair of updates to get the core of 1Password ready to support Lion and Safari 5.1 on Snow Leopard, and we’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of months rewriting our Safari extension from scratch in order to comply with new technologies and rules Apple has introduced, as well as to get 1Password prepared for the Mac App Store.

In the four short days since Lion’s release, our developers (who are in no way chained to their desks with stashes of Red Bull and Pop-Tarts) have released a total of six updates to the new Safari extension and an update to the main 1Password app. Now that our extension is an official Safari extension, Safari should check periodically and update it automatically. But just in case, here’s our how-to guide if you want to update right away.

We’re listening and updating

We’ve heard every piece of feedback you’ve sent, and already we’ve restored a number of features that users missed from the previous version, and we’ve added some polish for good measure:

Single-Stroke Login is back: If you only have one Login for a site, hitting the default Command-\ shortcut will now skip the extension interface and log you in right away

Go & Fill is back: Right-clicking the Dock icon or clicking an item’s URL from the 1Password app will now open the site in a new tab in Safari and log you in

Performance improved across the board: We’ve made big advances in speeding up the loading of our new extension and keyboard shortcut responsiveness

Extension now works on blank pages, Top Sites: You can now trigger our extension with our keyboard shortcuts if you’re on a blank page, Safari’s Top Sites, or even if the keyboard focus is in the Address Bar

Autosubmit settings now respected: If you’ve customized a Login’s Autosubmit settings in 1Password, the new Safari extension now respects that setting

1Click Bookmarks are back: If you’ve created one or more 1Click Bookmarks, they should now work again

The extension is now a popover: Apple introduced popovers as a new interface element on iPad, and they were such a hit that it brought them to Mac in OS X Lion. We’ve found that a popover is a great way to display more of your 1Password data inside the browser so you don’t have to stop what you’re doing to open the main app if you don’t want to

No longer resizes when using Safari 5.1’s Zoom features: Some Safari users like to take advantage of its clever View > Zoom In/Out/Text Only features, and an earlier version of our extension would resize itself according to those settings. Not anymore

Auto-Submit greatly improved: We’ve done a lot of work to improve the new extension’s ability to submit forms, and sites like Chase.com and Schwab.com should work again

Of course, these features and fixes are all in addition to the great stuff we can do with this new extension that could never be possible with the previous format. If you don’t know about all the new extension’s tricks like keyboard shortcuts and a better view of your data, you should definitely check out our intro document and FAQs, as well as our installation guide if you still need to get setup with Safari 5.1 on Snow Leopard or Lion.

We certainly aren’t taking a break though—no, not even on a Sunday. We know we have plenty of work to do and features to restore, so if you’re still missing something, please check the Known Issues in our troubleshooting guide for progress updates and explanation of what’s going on. Many of your questions have probably been answered there or in our main 1Password FAQs, so check those out.

Sneak peek at an interface revamp

Now for the sexier stuff. The new Safari extension is using a 1.0 version of our new extension interface that we introduced in Chrome last November. We redesigned the extension so we could offer a number of features users have been asking for and unify the 1Password experience across Safari, Chrome, and Firefox, as well as the aforementioned compatibility aspirations for Lion, Safari 5.1, and the Mac App Store.

We have received a lot of great feedback on this design, and based on your responses, we’ve been working on a revamp that will tighten up the interface but still provide access to our great new features like full mouse or keyboard navigation, new keyboard shortcuts, and the ability to view and copy more of your data than ever before right from the browser. Take a look:

Now remember: this is just our vision for the new extension’s design, and everything is in flux. But so far, we really like the tighter layout, reduction of white space, the ability to view more items at once, and some other pending perks that you might be able to glean from these shots.

But that’s enough about us—let us know what you think in our forums! You can of course comment here on the blog as well, but our staff can provide better assistance in the forums.

As a Mac user who doesn’t live under a rock, you’ve probably heard of this Lion thing Apple plans to release soon. Lion is quite a significant upgrade for Mac OS X, and with it Apple will introduce Safari 5.1, a major update for Lion and Snow Leopard users that brings lots of great new features and perks. Being the agile folks that we are, 1Password 3.6 for Mac is already prepared, but this isn’t just a compatibility nip here and a bug tuck there. We completely rewrote our Safari for Mac extension for Safari 5.1 in the name of usability, speed, cross-platform harmony, and bringing you faster updates.

One thing to keep in mind for now, though, is that as of this writing, our new Safari extension that supports Lion and Safari 5.1 on Snow Leopard is in beta. It’s pretty solid, but there of course may be quirks, bumps, and other odd behavior, so we welcome you to catch us in the AgileBits forums with ideas and bug reports.

Once you decide to upgrade to Lion or Safari 5.1 on Snow Leopard, you’ll be prompted to install our new Safari extension because it’s the only one that will work for you. And since Apple’s releases will soon be upon us, I figured it’s time you meet the new 1Password Safari extension.

Update: If the rest of this blog post isn’t enough for you, we’ve been busy preparing more documentation and FAQs to help you get up to speed with the new extension. Check out the right side of our 1Password FAQs for everything from a quick intro, to a list of keyboard shortcuts, and some common support tips.

Usability

Our new Safari extension is based on the redesign we introduced in our Chrome extension last November. Instead of just a browser button with a couple menus, the new interface offers a more powerful and flexible slice of 1Password right inside your browser. Whether you click the toolbar button or use the default keyboard shortcut of Command-\ to trigger our Safari extension, it appears as a window that floats above the top left corner of the current page, featuring tabbed sections for Logins, Identities, Credit Cards, and our Strong Password Generator. This puts the 1Password extension’s capabilities in the spotlight for all users and makes navigating around your data much, much more convenient. It also means you can now do things that haven’t been possible before from within a browser, such as view and copy 1Password item details and even review a Login’s password history.

Speed

Using 1Password via our new Safari extension is now much faster and more efficient whether you’re a mouse user or a keyboard ninja. Most of our customers build quite long, eclectic collections of Logins, but navigating a list of even a couple dozen items with a browser button menu can be clunky; you can lose your place or miss a sub-menu and have to re-do a lot of scrolling. You also can’t really search your items or view any extra information about them. With our previous extension, you’d have to stop what you’re doing, open 1Password, unlock it, then go searching for what you need. A key goal of our new extension is to give you instant access to more of your 1Password information right there in the browser so you don’t miss a beat.

By presenting your 1Password data with this new interface, we’ve made it much easier for mouse users to navigate their data, peruse long lists of items, check or copy an item’s details, and pick the proper item without dealing with finicky menus or losing one’s place. But if you fancy yourself a keyboard ninja, you can can now open the extension, navigate your Logins, Identities, and Credit Cards, view item details, and fill a form all without ever having to touch the mouse. Check out some of our keyboard shortcuts for navigating the Safari extension:

Command-\ – This has been the default keyboard shortcut for quite some time to open our extension in any browser. We haven’t changed it since it’s still a great place to start. It opens our new extension interface and displays any relevant logins for the current page

Command-Option-\ – Opens our extension and take you straight to the All Logins tab to search for a Login. After finding the Login you want, hitting Return will open the Login’s URL, fill in your credentials, and log you in

Tab – On the extension’s Logins tab, this switches between the “Logins for this site” tab and “All Logins” tab

Right arrow key – This one is a pretty big deal! It gives you access to much more of your 1Password data inside your browser than ever before. It allows you to view the details of any selected Login, Identity, or Credit Card. Need to copy a password for a Flash site, double-check a Credit Card’s expiration date, or verify the info in an Identity? This is a great way to do it without having to drop what you’re doing and open the 1Password app. To get back to the item list, simply hit the left arrow key

Cross-browser compatibility

Without delving into too many technical details, our new extension isn’t just a pretty face—it’s actually a complete architectural rewrite. There are a number of advantages to this for our developers, but for you, dear 1Password user, this means improved form filling, more features, and faster updates. In fact, this new extension format allows us to update the extension without having to update the 1Password application—that means more frequent updates and a smoother update process for you. For example, Safari and Chrome allow extensions to update automatically.

On a grander scale though, this new architecture will eventually allow us to use much more of the same code across the browsers we support. That translates to less work for our developers when it comes to keeping pace with the break-neck development cycles of Chrome and Firefox, but more importantly: a consistent, powerful, and flexible user experience no matter which browser you’re using.

Moving forward

We have a lot planned for our new browser extension, including features to add and some great interface enhancements. We’re also still working on the Firefox version, so stay tuned on that front. Ditto for our Windows users.

We’ve had an incredible response to our new extension from Chrome users over the past year, our beta testers, and early Lion and Safari 5.1 users. We think the new Safari extension marks a huge improvement to 1Password integration with the browser, making your data more accessible, and letting you get in, get out, and get back to what you’re doing faster than ever before. But that’s enough about us—let us know what you think in the comments!